1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to machines used for handling paperboard, which is typically used in forming corrugated paperboard. More particularly, the present invention relates to an alignment mechanism for aligning rolls of paperboard with one another. Specifically, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for aligning one edge of a given roll of paperboard with a corresponding edge of another roll of paperboard.
2. Background Information
Machines for handling rolls of paperboard are well known in the art, including corrugating machines (corrugators), splicing machines (splicers) and the like. Each of these machines handles two or more rolls of paperboard such that the web of paperboard from one roll is ultimately combined with the web from one or more other rolls of paperboard. For instance, corrugators combine a corrugated medium with a flat web of paperboard to form corrugated paperboard. Splicers splice the trailing end of the web of one roll of paperboard with the leading end of the web of another roll of paperboard in order to create a continuous web formed from the two rolls. In these cases and in other instances, it is necessary to suitably align the rolls of paperboard with one another. Improper alignment ultimately results in a paperboard product which does not have clean or sharp edges and thus must typically be trimmed in order to provide such edges. This is a very common problem in the art inasmuch as the actual width of a given roll of paperboard is often slightly different than the width ordered by the customer, typically by ⅛ or ¼ inch or the like. Although known machines typically align the paperboard rolls with one another generally, they nonetheless align them in such a manner that the left and right edges of the rolls are slightly offset relative to one another such that both the left and right edges ultimately need to be trimmed. Thus, it would be desirable to have an alignment mechanism for aligning, for example, the left edges of the rolls in order to eliminate the need for subsequent trimming along the left edges. The present invention addresses this need in the art.